Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1887-12-18
A BOON COLLAPSINlG.
The Dread settling Day Coming
for California Speech La tOrs.

for California Spectators.
A Los Angeles letter to the New
York Head says that too close and
hard.iieaded observer it is not hard to
see signs that the great real esta g
boom totters. There is "a more fever
ish haste al over this Southern coun-
try TO unload town lots; the pr, jrct-
ors OF tine town are, here and there,
offering better terms; the band Of
music in tig wagon has to toot
louder and longer to get up All
excitement; the real estate
offices begin to display "tempt-
ing Offers" men who some
months ago demanded thir,l down
ami got II, a now ready to take 10
per cent. down--the balance in Fix
months and u year, or even 1.-The
balance at you convenience. Then
there Is the ther kind of cal estate
man, who announces in large letters
that the lats remaining unsoli two
weeks hence will be Withdrawn
from sale, or that the prize
of lois will be raj ed by 10 per cent.
every. Monday hereafter, and nov is
, our chance"
Meantime prudent men are quietly
drawing out, realizing what they can. :,
and there are p,rtentous Iumors Of
wash or fictitious sales. Indeed
some newspapers in this state are hon
estly warning the public 10 beware.
He and there ''boom has broken
down, fizzled out, or got stranded.
sST Ho,,ht - cai1 S1v, .,
here the other day, whether there is
u house anywhere off Montgomery
or Market st eet in Frisco that would
sell for more to-day than il would
have brought two years ago, and that
seems to me fair test for the bust
ness man who has money t., put into
city lots. But there has been boom
with us. Oh, yes, of course; boom
in sand lots out near the park.
Things you could haze bought two
years ago for Is front foot, have
brought $45; and when man buys
that sort of property he needs to
cover it up quick to keep it from
blowing away. Oh, yes, We had q
boom; we've got lot Of fools, too ;
Int it's about petered out, guess,
and the fellows who have got their
money in will get it out very soon."
How long can it last down here?
"Heaven only knows. There has
hesn, go far, no shock to confidence.
But look here; very few people pay
cash down for what tney are buying,
because a very small proportion Of
buyers mean TO hold. The universal
rule has been ope-third down and
the balance in six months aud year.
OF late sellers are taking tenth
down, which is sign that the buy
ers are less eager. Well, some Of US
nia,ie q calculation the other day
which is startling. 1t is tina, taking
the whole country, between San Diego
and Sacramento, in which the specu-
lation has been most Rampant, the
deferred payments, due in November
and December, will foot up about $45, :
000, 900. That is to say, the great
army of men and women specula-
tors who have bought for q rise
and paid third or less dow N must pay
up between $40, 900 600 and s45, O00,-
90 between now and next January or
forfeit their purchases and what they
have already paid.
II it is true, as this gentleman be-
lieves, that between. now and the LIST
OF January $45, 600 600 will have to be
paid out as installnents due ON real
estate transactions, the greater paIt
OF which are spe, ulative, the collapse
draws nearer. In the opinion Of
many Caliiornians, the sooner the
better for the real inter ests OF the
state. OF course a collapse in specu-
lation will bring down prices OF
productive property elso for time
but it is generally acknowledged here
that the prices asked for farming and
orchard lands are a good deal too high
in all the southern half of the Stale.
Orange land, with abundant water Ms
sureu, may be worth, If very favorably
located, 1900 to $400 an acre, but such
land has OF late changed hands at 500,
1900 and even $1,000 an acre. Whea
land, fit for nothing but grain, has
been sold at $3.50 to 5000 an acre
rsisin land has gone off readily al
$3.50 to $400 per acre. Such prices
ought to repel bona tide purchasers.
"SELAH!"
This is printed after the date Of col
apse 6zed by the false prophe's to
,how how wide OF the mark they shot.